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Routledge Handbook of Japanese Culture and Society
By Theodore C. Bestor, Edited by Victoria Lyon Bestor, Akiko Yamagata. 2011
The Routledge Handbook of Japanese Culture and Society is an interdisciplinary resource that focuses on contemporary Japan and the social and cultural…
trends that are important at the beginning of the twenty-first century. This Handbook provides a cutting-edge and comprehensive survey of significant phenomena, institutions, and directions in Japan today, on issues ranging from gender and family, the environment, race and ethnicity, and urban life, to popular culture and electronic media. Written by an international team of Japan experts, the chapters included in the volume form an accessible and fascinating insight into Japanese culture and society. As such, the Handbook will be an invaluable reference tool for anyone interested in all things Japanese. Students, teachers and professionals alike will benefit from the broad ranging discussions, useful links to online resources and suggested reading lists. The Handbook will be of interest across a wide range of disciplines including Japanese Studies, Cultural Studies, Anthropology, Sociology and Asian Studies in general.Legacies: A Chinese Mosaic
By Bette Bao Lord. 1990
Urgent and timeless, Legacies brings us closer than we have ever been to penetrating the great conundrum of China in…
the twentieth century. It could only have been written by Bette Bao Lord -- born in China, raised in America, author of the bestselling novel Spring Moon, wife of a former American ambassador to China, resident in Beijing during the "China Spring" of 1989. Lord's unique web of relationships and her sensitive insight have enabled her to observe Chinese life both high and low, Communist and dissident, intellectual and ordinary. Lord interweaves her own story, and that of her clansmen, with the voices of men and women who recall the tumultuous experience of the last fifty years, and the legacy of the Cultural Revolution. In precise, subtle prose, Lord explores the reality of Red Guards and re-education camps, of friends and families severed by political disgrace, and captures the individual voices of those caught up in them: the seven-year-old girl with a heart full of hate for her father; the journalist whose girlfriend believes the Party newspapers, not him; the imprisoned scholar who hid his writings in his quilt for years; the anti-revolutionary who tells his bitter story in a vein of high farce. All bear heartbreaking witness to the surreal quality of Chinese society today -- and to the astonishing resilience, humor, and heroic equanimity of the Chinese spirit.Return to Victory: MacArthur's Epic Liberation of the Philippines
By James P. Duffy. 2021
General Douglas MacArthur's bloody campaign to defeat die-hard Japanese forces and liberate the Philippines &“I shall return,&” General Douglas MacArthur promised…
the Filipino people following the Japanese invasion and occupation of the Philippines in spring 1942. The people there believed MacArthur&’s vow—and even Americans were stirred by his dramatic pledge. Now, two and half years later, MacArthur was ready to fulfill his promise--the liberation of the Philippines was about to begin. It would not be an easy campaign. The more than 7,000 islands of the Philippine archipelago were the key to taking down the Japanese Empire—and the Imperial forces were prepared to sacrifice every man and every ship to prevent MacArthur from regaining control of them. Covering both the strategic and tactical aspects of the campaign through the participation of its soldiers, sailors, and airmen, as well as its commanders, James P. Duffy leads readers through a vivid account of the nearly year-long, bloody campaign to defeat over a quarter million die-hard Japanese defenders in the Pacific theater. Return to Victory is a wide-ranging, dramatic and stirring account of MacArthur&’s epic liberation of the Philippines.The Prophet's Heir: The Life of Ali ibn Abi Talib
By Hassan Abbas. 2021
The life and legacy of one of Mohammad&’s closest confidants and Islam&’s patron saint: Ali ibn Abi Talib Ali ibn…
Abi Talib is arguably the single most important spiritual and intellectual authority in Islam after prophet Mohammad. Through his teachings and leadership as fourth caliph, Ali nourished Islam. But Muslims are divided on whether he was supposed to be Mohammad&’s political successor—and he continues to be a polarizing figure in Islamic history. Hassan Abbas provides a nuanced, compelling portrait of this towering yet divisive figure and the origins of sectarian division within Islam. Abbas reveals how, after Mohammad, Ali assumed the spiritual mantle of Islam to spearhead the movement that the prophet had led. While Ali&’s teachings about wisdom, justice, and selflessness continue to be cherished by both Shia and Sunni Muslims, his pluralist ideas have been buried under sectarian agendas and power politics. Today, Abbas argues, Ali&’s legacy and message stands against that of ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and Taliban.Turkey: A Past Against History
By Christine M. Philliou. 2021
From its earliest days, the dominant history of the Turkish Republic has been one of national self-determination and secular democratic…
modernization. The story insisted on total rupture between the Ottoman Empire and the modern Turkish state and on the absolute unity of the Turkish nation. In recent years, this hermetic division has begun to erode, but as the old consensus collapses, new histories and accounts of political authority have been slow to take its place. In this richly detailed alternative history, Christine M. Philliou focuses on the notion of political opposition and dissent—muhalefet—to connect the Ottoman and Turkish periods. Taking the perennial dissident Refik Halid Karay as a subject, guide, and interlocutor, she traces the fissures within the Ottoman and the modern Turkish elite that bridged the transition. Exploring Karay’s political and literary writings across four regimes and two stints in exile, Philliou upends the official history of Turkey and offers new dimensions to our understanding of its political authority and culture.The increasingly vibrant political culture emerging in Lebanon and Syria in the 1930s and early 1940s is key to the…
understanding of local approaches towards the Nazi German regime. For many contemporary observers in Beirut and Damascus, Nazism not only posed a risk to Europe, but threatened to take root in Arab societies as well. In the first publication to reconstruct Lebanese and Syrian encounters with Nazism in the context of an evolving local political culture and to base its analysis on a comprehensive review of Arab, French and German sources, Götz Nordbruch examines the reactions to the rise of Nazism in the countries under French mandate, spanning from fascination and endorsement to the creation of antifascist networks. Against a background of public discourses, local politics and the shifting regional and international settings, this book interprets public assessments of and contact with the Nazi regime as part of an intellectual quest for orientation in the years between the break-up of the Ottoman Empire and national independence.Ben-Gurion, Zionism and American Jewry: 1948 - 1963 (Israeli History, Politics and Society)
By Ariel Feldestein. 2006
Based on archival material, this intriguing book examines David Ben-Gurion’s influence on the relationship between the state of Israel, the…
Zionist Organization and American Jewry between 1948 and 1963 when he served as Prime Minister and Minister of Defence. The author discusses how Ben-Gurion was largely instrumental in forming Israel’s policies throughout the first two decades of the country’s existence and, due to his position, personality and prestige, he was able to influence the fashioning of political structures as well as their content. The book discusses both the political motives of the leaders and the ideological discourse, in order to understand their dependency and to highlight their significance in the terms Diaspora and exile, the centrality of the State of Israel, and the role played by the Jews of America. As such this will be of great interest to scholars of Middle East Studies, Jewish Studies, and ethnicity and nationalism.Ralph Smith was a highly respected historian who, at the time of his death in December 2000, had nearly completed…
a manuscript chronicling changes in the East Asia region since 1943. This fascinating work, completed and edited by Chad Mitcham, one of Ralph Smith’s former students, himself a specialist and established author in this field, draws together the product of Professor Smith’s research at archives in Britain, France, Japan and the United States, extensive reading and international travel from 1966 to 2000. The book also incorporates a distillation of ideas and themes explored in his earlier papers, articles and books, including Ralph Smith's pioneering three volume work, An International History of the Vietnam War. It shows how both Ralph Smith’s thinking about the future course of the region and the broader context of regional prospects radically changed throughout this turbulent time. As Ralph Smith’s last major research project, carried out from 1997 to 2000, the book has evolved from his 1997 paper ‘Visions of the Future: East Asia in 1943 and 1993’, delivered in the Huang Hsing Foundation Distinguished Lecture at the Asian Studies Centre, St Antony’s College, Oxford. It is a vital contribution to post-war Asian history.Sun Tzu and other classical Chinese strategic thinkers wrote in an era of social, economic and military revolution, and hoped…
to identify enduring principles of war and statecraft. The twenty-first century is a time of similarly revolutionary change, and this makes their ideas of particular relevance for today’s strategic environment. Placing these theories in historical context, Dr Kane explores ancient Chinese reactions to such issues as advances in military technology and insurgency and terrorism, providing interesting comparisons between modern and ancient. The book explains the way prominent Chinese thinkers - such as Sun Tzu, Han Fei Tzu and Lao Tzu - treated critical strategic questions. It also compares their ideas to those of thinkers from other times and civilizations (e.g. Clausewitz) to illuminate particularly important points. In concluding, the book addresses the question of how ancient Chinese ideas might inform contemporary strategic debates. Ancient China on Postmodern War will be of much interest to students of strategic studies, Chinese philosophy and military history.Beijing - A Concise History (Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia #Vol. 41)
By Stephen G. Haw. 2007
Stephen Haw sets out the history of the city of Beijing, charting the course of its development from its early…
roots before 2000 BC to its contemporary position as capital of the People’s Republic of China. Stephen Haw, a well-established author on China, outlines the establishment of the earliest cities in the years before 1000 BC, its status as regional capital during most of the long Zhou dynasty, and its emergence as capital of the whole of China after the conquest of the Mongol invaders under Chenghiz Khan and his successors. He considers the city’s assumption of its modern name ‘Beijing’ under the Ming dynasty, conquest by the Manchus and the turbulent years of civil war that followed the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1911, culminating in the communist revolution and Beijing’s resumption of the role of capital of China in 1949. Overall, Stephen Haw gives an impressive account of the long and fascinating history of a city that is growing in prominence as an urban centre of global significance.Nationalisms in Japan (The University of Sheffield/Routledge Japanese Studies Series)
By Naoko Shimazu. 2006
Nationalisms in Japan brings together leading specialists in the field to discuss how notions of ‘nationalism’ in modern Japan impinges…
on all aspects of social, political and cultural understanding of the Japanese nation or the Japanese state. This book is clearly presented and jargon-free, and encompasses a chronological period of roughly two hundred years, beginning with a discussion of some of the early Japanese national thinkers of the Mito School, and ending with a contemporary discussion of the official visits made by Prime Minister Koizumi Jun’ichiro to the highly controversial Yasukuni Shrine. This wide chronological period allows for important observations about the evolution of nationalism, suggesting that Japan actually houses multiple ‘nationalisms’. Presenting new insights and understanding, this is a valuable addition to those working on modern Japan and nationalism.This is an in-depth account of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs Service, a uniquely cosmopolitan institution established in the wake of China's…
defeat in the Opium Wars (1842 to 43), and a central feature of the Treaty Port system. The British-dominated service was headed by the famous Robert Hart who founded a far-reaching customs administration that also encompassed other responsibilities such as marine and harbour maintenance, quarantine, anti-piracy patrols and postal services. This institution sat at a crucial juncture between Chinese and foreign interests, and was intimately linked to British interests and fortunes in the Far East. Following the establishment of the Republic in 1911 there were grave misgivings as to whether the foreign element of the Service would survive. Yet the Service grew in influence and strength, ensuring the foreign inspectorate a continued role in China's affairs. Delivering an overview of the Service, its bureaucracy, fiscal responsibilities and life for foreigners in its employ, focusing especially on the later years of the Service, Donna Brunero draws on the experiences of the foreign administration of the Service as it attempted to negotiate between Chinese and foreign expectations and interests.Cities, Autonomy, and Decentralization in Japan (Routledge Contemporary Japan Series #Vol. 7)
By Carola Hein, Philippe Pelletier. 2006
Adding a new perspective to the current literature on decentralization in Japan, Cities, Autonomy and Decentralization in Japan, approaches the…
subject from an urban studies and planning approach. The essays in the collection present a cogent compilation of case studies focusing on the past, present and future of decentralization in Japan. These include small scale development in the fields such as citizen participation (machizukuri), urban form and architecture, disaster prevention and conservation of monuments. The contributors suggest that new trends are emerging after the bursting of Japan's economic bubble and assess them in the context of the country's larger socio-political system. This in-depth analysis of the development outside of Japan provides a valuable addition to students of Urban, Asian and Japanese Studies.Asian Anthropology (Anthropology of Asia)
By Syed Farid Alatas, Eyal Ben-Ari, Jan Van Bremen. 2005
Asian Anthropology raises important questions regarding the nature of anthropology and particularly the production and consumption of anthropological knowledge in…
Asia. Instead of assuming a universal standard or trajectory for the development of anthropology in Asia, the contributors to this volume begin with the appropriate premise that anthropologies in different Asian countries have developed and continue to develop according to their own internal dynamics. With chapters written by an international group of experts in the field, Asian Anthropology will be a useful teaching tool and a valuable resource for scholars working in Asian anthropology.Since the 1970s, Turkey has suffered 35,000 deaths through terrorism, yet the PKK terror group was only recognized as such…
by the European Union in 2002. The realization that terrorism poses a world-wide threat is now forcing a keen reassessment of the struggle which Turkey has had to wage with terror for over thirty years while the world looked on. Terror is clearly now a key part of the international agenda and this authoritative account details and establishes the Turkish experience. This chronological account of terrorist attacks inside Turkey and against Turkish targets outside the country, places them in the global setting. This book will be of great interest to all students and scholars of international relations, terrorism and security studies.US-Kuwaiti Relations, 1961-1992: An Uneasy Relationship
By Chookiat Panaspornprasit. 2005
After being granted full independence in 1961, Kuwait began its tumultuous relationship with the US. This book sets out to…
investigate this alliance within the frameworks of a ‘small state’ and ‘influence’, and in particular under the US presidents Carter, Reagan, and Bush. The political, diplomatic and military aspects are examined which have both stalled and enhanced the bilateral relationship at different times and events. The relationship between the two countries has not always been a straightforward one. Kuwait, overshadowed by its bigger neighbour Saudi Arabia, was regarded as a derivative interest by the US and its role within the region more often than not underestimated. Shedding new light on this key political alliance, the book details how this uneasy relationship evolved while Kuwait maintained its independent foreign policy, which contradicted US national interest. Illuminating and informative, it is essential reading for anyone with an interest in Middle East politics and international relations.Based on extensive original research in the Republic of Tatarstan, in the Central Volga region of Russia, this book examines…
the economic development path followed by Tatarstan since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Russian financial crash of 1998. It argues that the roles of global capitalism and globalisation are somewhat exaggerated in much contemporary academic literature. In the case of Tatarstan, a strong state role, tightly-knit local elite networks, and the inheritance of the Soviet politic and industrial systems are the most important socio-economic formations in explaining the region's development.During the period 1949 to 1979, communist China was officially pursuing a policy of self-sufficiency, and the United States and…
its allies were officially implementing a trade embargo against communist China. However, this book, based on extensive original research, demonstrates that China was highly dependent on Western/Japanese grain imports. The text shows that groups lobbying on behalf of Western/Japanese grain producers and related industries had successfully found ways of by-passing the embargo. This book charts the complicated picture of how economic relations between China, the West and Japan developed in these years.A Short History of South-East Asia
By Peter Church. 2009
The success of the first four editions shows that this book fills a vacuum for readers who wish to learn…
about the countries of South-East Asia. Recent years have seen a number of important developments all of which are covered here. With the global climate becoming more uncertain and the threat of terrorism spilling over, this book will aid readers' knowledge of this region by addressing its historical past and political future.Europe in an Era of Growing Sino-American Competition: Coping with an Unstable Triangle (Routledge Studies in European Security and Strategy)
By Sebastian Biba, Reinhard Wolf. 2021
This book investigates how Europe should position itself in an era of growing Chinese-American rivalry. The volume explores the contemporary…
relationship and ongoing dynamics between three of the most powerful players in today’s international relations - the USA, China and Europe. It claims that the intensifying antagonism between Washington and Beijing requires a paradigm shift in European strategic thinking, and takes a trilateral perspective in analysing key issue areas, such as trade, technology, investment, climate change, the BRI, sub-national contacts, maritime security and nuclear non-proliferation. Using this analysis, the work seeks to offer original policy recommendations that respond to a number of dilemmas Europe can no longer avoid, including the trade-off between European interests and values in a harsher global environment, the question of whether Europe should align with one of the two superpowers, Europe’s military dependence on a US pivoting to the Asia-Pacific, and possible trade-offs between global and regional governance efforts. The key finding is that Europe must follow a much more pragmatic and independent approach to its foreign and security affairs. This book will be of much interest to students of EU policy, foreign policy, Chinese politics, US politics and IR in general.